


pabst blue ribbon on ice

by ladystark



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:15:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladystark/pseuds/ladystark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They are the girls, the pretty ones, the popular ones. They kiss cheeks and hold hands and link arms, but only with each other, in this little circle they have. They lie and they pretend but they sometimes tell the truth, but only every to each other. They love so very much, but mostly they love each other, their best friends, their team, their family. They are everything people want to be, and everything they themselves will ever need.</p>
<p>Or, how Margaery, Daenerys and Sansa loved each other and broke themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pabst blue ribbon on ice

_This is what makes us girls / To all the little queens / Do you know what you're worth?_

* * *

Margaery is the golden girl, the queen bee, the prom queen and the homecoming queen. She knows what she wants and how to get it, and she’s so very good at it.

Daenerys is the strange girl, the hipster, the smoker and the girl from the broken home. She knows what she needs but avoids taking those things, and she’s so very good at it.

Sansa is the little girl, the sweetheart, the naive princess and the sophomore that’s _oh so eage_ r to please. She knows what her dreams are but now hot wrong they are, and she’s so very good at it.

They are the girls, the pretty ones, the popular ones. They kiss cheeks and hold hands and link arms, but only with each other, in this little circle they have. They lie and they pretend but they sometimes tell the truth, but only every to each other. They love so very much, but mostly they love each other, their best friends, their team, their family. They are everything people want to be, and everything they themselves will ever need.

* * *

Margaery Tyrell is very particular with the people she spends her time with, and even more particular with the people that she actually likes. She does not enjoy her little group, for their chatter is mindless, and she does not enjoy her various boyfriends, for they are bad at kissing and even worse at being gentlemen.

She has never had anyone to call a best friend, because she never finds anybody that is suitable for the role. She knows, of course she does, that other people say that she’s their best friend, but that is expected. Margaery simply smiles and takes their wrist, but never their hand, because she is saving that for the best friend she will one day have.

Everyone loves Margaery, and Margaery knows this. She uses it to her advantage, because what good is love if there is nothing to gain?

But there is nobody that Margaery loves, besides her family. She has yet to find anybody to love.

Daenerys Targaryen is very particular with the people she spends her time with, and even more particular with the people she can be around for extended periods of time. This is not Dany’s fault, but rather everyone else’s, for they are afraid of Dany. They say that both Dany and her brother, who graduated last year, are mad.

She has never had anyone to call her best friend, because people do not want to be best friends with a mad girl. She knows, of course she does, that other people say terrible things behind her back, but that is expected. Dany simply smiles and thinks that she could love them, if only they could love her. But she is saving her love for the best friend she will one day have.

Only one person loves Dany, and Dany knows this. It is not Viserys, even if she tells herself otherwise. It is her boyfriend, her older, handsome boyfriend, the man named Drogo.

But there is nobody that loves Dany, besides her middle aged boyfriend. She has yet to find anybody to love.

Sansa Stark is very particular with the people she spends her time with, and even more particular with the people she dislikes. This is because Sansa loves with all her heart, but she is naive and sometimes close-minded, so she finds things others enjoy to be quite a bore, and she doesn’t enjoy doing those things.

She has never had anyone to call her best friend, because Jeyne left a year ago and Sansa has not spoken to her since, so they were not the best friends Sansa thought they were. She knows, of course she does, that there are quite a few people who she could be best friends with, but that is expected. Sansa simply smiles and considers them, but they do not seem to fit. She decides she will _know_ when she finds the best friend she will one day have.

Lots of people love Sansa, and Sansa knows this. Sansa thinks she loves everyone back, but she doesn’t, not all of them.

But there a few people Sansa truly loves, besides her family. She has yet to find the best friends that she will love.

* * *

Margaery stumbles across Dany one day, when she is skipping class, because class is boring and pointless, she finds.

She finds herself outside, the winter winds sending discarded sandwich wrappers across the pavement around their school. The wind sends a chill through her stockings beneath her too short skirt, but she doesn’t care. A figure has caught her eye, and that is what she focuses on.

Margaery walks towards one of the seats that are scattered around the outside of the school, the one that is currently occupied. A silver haired girl sits there, one Margaery has heard stories about. Her name is Daenerys Targaryen, her brother is Viserys, she speaks several languages, she never takes her dragon necklace off, and she is mad.

Margaery thinks the last one is a lie.

“I’m Margaery” Margaery says gently, sitting beside Daenerys. The girl turns to her, with violet eyes Margaery would kill for. She stares at Margaery for a moment, a cigarette hanging limply from two fingers. Margaery realizes right then and there that they are going to be friends, _good_ friends. Perhaps together they could talk to the pretty red haired sophomore Margaery feels a pull towards.

“I’m Dany” the girl replies.

* * *

They befriend Sansa too, because Sansa is lovely, and not nearly as happy as she thinks she is. She reminds Margaery and Dany of themselves, and so they take her under their wings.

This arrangement, Margaery and Dany and Sansa was only meant to be temporary. They all tell themselves this, believing it to be the truth for a variety of reasons. Margaery is scared of getting close, Dany is scared of getting hurt, and Sansa is scared of getting left behind. But it is not temporary, they find, because they worm their way into each other’s hearts. It is not too long before they are deeply rooted within each other, and they all think, _this is it, these are my girls, my best friends, my team, my family. And I love them._

* * *

They go everywhere together, to school, to the shops, to the movies, to parties. They spend time at each other’s houses, as different as they are.

There is Margaery’s large, sprawling mansion with the magnificent garden, with the brother who is always home, and almost always with his boyfriend.

“Loras” Margaery says the first time Dany and Sansa come over “This is Dany and Sansa. I love them almost as much as you and grandmother.

There is Dany’s ever changing address with the lack of warmth, with the brother who is never home, but it doesn’t matter, because Dany rarely is herself.

“Viserys and I” Dany says the first time Sansa and Margaery come over “We’ve never really had a home. Not even with each other.”

There is Sansa’s large, warm house with the broken letterbox, with the large family who is always home, at least, one of them always is.

“I’m sorry” Sansa says the first time Margaery and Dany come over “For anything Arya says or Rickon does. I don’t think they mean it.”

Their houses are as different as the three girls themselves, but their home is the same. Home is wherever they are together.

* * *

Margaery loves too reluctantly, Dany loves so rarely, and Sansa loves so easily. It is a dangerous combination, but they are happy together.

When it comes to boys, it is rarely the same story. Margaery has never been in love, because nobody has caught her eye the way she’s told someone is supposed to. She’d like to fall in love, despite what she says, but she’s not sure if she can. Dany has only been in love once, because nobody else ever accepted her the way Drogo did. She’d like to fall in love with someone her own age, despite what she thinks, but she’s not sure if she’ll ever find that person. Sansa has been in love many times, because nobody has told her the songs and the stories aren’t true. She’d like to fall in love with someone who loves her back, despite what she pretends, but she’s not sure someone can love that much.

And so Margaery loves no boys, Dany loves Drogo, and Sansa loves everyone who breaks her heart. And of course, they love each other.

* * *

It is all too easy to play pretend, if you know how to do it well. It is all too easy to play pretend when you have practiced for so long, tried out your smiles in front of the mirror, worked on the words that will sound best. It is all too easy to play pretend for Margaery and Dany and Sansa, because it is what they are good at.

It is all too easy to pretend that Margaery isn’t better at lying than she is at telling the truth, that the brunette girl does not know how to tell right from wrong anymore. _It’s okay_ , Margaery says to the other two once, _I’m okay._

It is all too easy to pretend that Dany doesn’t smoke a pack a day, that the silver haired girl will almost always have a trace of smoke around her. _It’s okay_ , Dany says to the other two once _, smoking takes my mind off things._

It is all too easy to pretend that Sansa doesn’t keep falling for the wrong boys, that the auburn haired girl will be in tears for one reason or another almost every month, at the hands of a boy. _It’s okay_ , Sansa says to the other two once, _we’re in love, this one will be different._

It is all too easy to play pretend if you know how to play the game, and these are the girls that play it better than anyone.

* * *

Dany takes the other two to all the clubs outside of town, handing them fake IDs as she does so. She has done this before, with people she barely knows and also her boyfriend, and the three girls she knew once upon a time, the ones she called friends. Dany wonders what happened to Jhiqui, Irri and Doreah.

Sansa has never drunk before, and so Margaery and Dany keep an eye on her the first time they take her out. Sansa is a lightweight, it turns out, so they spend half the night holding her hair back whilst sitting on the bathroom floor. Dany has spent nights doing worse things.

Sansa gets better the more they go out, and the girls find themselves dancing for longer each time, holding hands and spinning around the dance floor laughing. Everyone watches on and Dany can feel their envy, and she doesn’t know how she feels about it. She is not Margaery, she has not grown up being the envy of everyone – quite the opposite, actually.

But she enjoys this time with Margaery and Sansa, and she feels a bit like a queen when she is with them. And it feels right.

They almost get into serious trouble one night, when Margaery drags the other two up onto the bar to dance across it, drunk. This, apparently, is not allowed, because the bartender tells them he’s calling the cops. He almost does it too, even when the girls clamber down, but the bouncer intervenes. Dany does not know what he says, but they get told to leave immediately.

“Thank you” Dany says to the bouncer, and she’s a little drunk and breathless, but so are Sansa and Margaery, who are hanging around behind her.

The bouncer just smiles.

“I’m Dany” she says, and turns to leave, but she hears a voice behind her as she goes. She only pays the slightest bit of attention to it, because it is Margaery and Sansa she focuses on. But she catches the reply nonetheless.

“I’m Jorah” the voice says.

* * *

For a few months, they are incredibly happy together, the three of them. Apart, they are scared, broken girls who don’t quite realize it, but together, they’re a team. They are Queens, they are unstoppable, they are a family. The Rose, The Dragon and The Wolf.

But things get out of hands too quickly, because they are some things that are absolutely beyond their control. They get a little caught up in the excitement, in their friendship, in the times they have together and the times they plan for the future. They are young, naive girls, and they pretend they don’t know it, but truthfully, they do.

* * *

It all ends so suddenly, on Sansa’s sixteenth birthday. The three of them go out for dinner, a favourite of Dany’s, which serves strange food that Margaery and Sansa have never had but love nonetheless. Margaery orders them these lovely, sweet smelling drinks. They decide that they are what summer probably tastes like.

They end up at their town’s fancy hotel, because the doorman lets them in without a second glance. They are pretty, young girls with ribbons loosely tied up in their hair, and they think they are invincible, that they can get away with anything. It is their ultimate downfall, but they do not know it.

Dany picks the lock to the pool’s hotel, which was supposed to close three hours ago, according to the sign on the wall. But they are Queens, aren’t they? And so they break in, and strip down to their bikinis, black against Dany’s pale skin, Sansa’s freckled skin, and Margaery’s tanned skin.  They are invincible, aren’t they?

They jump in, not even trying to hide their screams, because they can get away with anything. Dany swims laps around the other two, while Margaery interlocks her fingers with Sansa’s beneath the cool water. It feels right, so right, and Margaery thinks she could fall in love, and Sansa thinks she has someone to love her back. Dany thinks she can love them both, forever.

But they do not get forever. They get caught instead, and Margaery grabs both their hands and runs, out of the pool, out of the hotel, leaving their clothes and the police behind them. For several minutes, it is just the sound of each other’s laughter in their ears, wet feet slapping on pavement, police sirens wailing distantly behind them.

And then it is a cold, dark, holding cell, whilst phone calls are made, and it is so utterly unfair, the three think. It is unfair for Margaery, because she will be scolded for letting her guard down and almost ruining her family’s reputation, after everything they’ve built her up for. It is unfair for Dany, because Viserys will not react well to this, and Dany was finally starting to feel safe, to feel happy, and she does not want to lose it. It is unfair for Sansa, because her parents do not care about Arya’s misfit male friends, or Jon’s wild girlfriend, but they will care about this.

It is unfair for them all, because they will be separated, and they are broken when they are apart.

* * *

Margaery and Dany are granted permission to send Sansa off, and this is how they find themselves on a train station in tears.

The Stark family watch on, and they feel awful, because Sansa loves these girls and they love her. But they can’t be together, not right now. And so Sansa’s bags are packed, next to her father’s and her sister’s. They are spending the next year and a half down south, while Sansa’s father works on things for his business.

But Margaery, Dany and Sansa pretend that this is not true for a while, and hug each other tightly, holding on as if to never let go. If they had a choice, they never would.

“Sweet girl” Margaery says to Sansa, but she doesn’t quite let go of Dany’s hand “Do take care of yourself. Dany and I will look after each other, but you must be brave now, my love.”

Dany smiles, and says something in a language Sansa doesn’t quite understand, but she knows that Dany is terrified and upset, but her words were loving, Sansa knew.

Sansa tells them she loves them, but then the train arrives, and it is over too soon. Cheek kisses, final hugs and wiped eyes, and then Sansa is forced onto the train.

She leaves behind her family, but also her best friends, her team, her _other_ family. And she takes pieces of Margaery’s and Dany’s hearts with her.

* * *

Sansa walks away from her father and her sister, because she is heartbroken, and she is furious. At her father, her sister, her brothers, her mother. At the police, the hotel owner, the Tyrell family, and Dany’s brother. At the world. She is absolutely furious with everyone, except for Margaery and Dany.

But they are gone now, and Sansa does not know if she will ever see them again. Margaery has college next year, and Dany will have gone too by the time Sansa returns home.

Sansa thinks she would cry, if she knew somebody would be there to comfort her. But Margaery and Dany did that, and they are gone. Sansa has her father and her sister close by, but without her best friends, she is utterly lost.

Instead, she sits down in a carriage, across from a golden haired boy with a pretty face. Sansa thinks that he is beautiful, but not as beautiful as Margaery. He smiles at her, and Sansa thinks that he is nice, but not as nice as Dany. _Still_ , Sansa thinks, _I could love him._

“I’m Sansa” she says, and she thinks, _look Dany, look Margaery, isn’t he handsome? You’ll be the maids of honour at my wedding, both of you, I promise._

She will see them again, Sansa decides, but first, she will fall in love with the golden haired boy.

“I’m Joffrey” the boy replies.

* * *

_I'll tell you every day till you get it girl / It's all going to happen_

**Author's Note:**

> Title from This Is What Makes Us Girls by Lana Del Rey. This entire fic inspired by This Is What Makes Us Girls by Lana Del Rey. The lyrics are from one of the demos of the song.  
> I apologize for any OOC-ness, as this fic had a different vibe to any other ASOIAF things I've written, or truly anything I've ever written.  
> This was written in a few hours, on a spur of the moment kind of things as well. The most I've written in a long time, so I'm somewhat proud of it.  
> Thanks to Lucy, for her endless love and support.  
> xx ladystark


End file.
